Ron Francis as Kraken GM ~ The Verdict Is In

[VivaLasVegas]

And he is guilty of being a bust as a GM, as predicted by many here including me. Every year, the Kraken just trudge forth in a steady mediocrity, got no future, have no past.

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[Kryten]

Good. Expansion teams arent supposed to be good right away

 

[DistantThunderRep]

While I agree with the sentiment that Francis is not that good of a GM. This is the normal path of an expansion team.

Good. Expansion teams arent supposed to be good right away

Vegas rotted people's brains and assume expansion teams all should follow that path. Vegas was the outlier not the norm.

 

[bleedgreen]

They’ve built slow and have a bunch of solid young players coming along with more on the way. Moves like Kakko and Tolvanen added as they can. Get the best free agents that will sign with them without breaking the bank as the kids develop a la Detroit. Seems to be working just fine. They don’t have other options. They’re building the base from scratch. No one was going to pay them first rounders to not take players. I don’t get the fuss. They played great tonight, so interesting timing.

 

[olli]

they seem to be the “definition of mid” but them a couple more years to see what Francis can do with how his draft picks turn out and how he spends when the cap goes up significantly.

 

[The Panther]

It's hard to think of a more boring team to watch.

That said, they've done all right, I think.

 

[tarheelhockey]

have no past.

This is the part I blame him for the most.

 

[Reality Czech]

While I agree with the sentiment that Francis is not that good of a GM. This is the normal path of an expansion team.

Vegas rotted people's brains and assume expansion teams all should follow that path. Vegas was the outlier not the norm.

Vegas was also the beneficiary of the new expansion rules, while Seattle had to deal with teams that weren't gonna let themselves get ripped off again.

 

[CaptainShark]

The verdict is in: someone is tooting his own horn without any proof…

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

Vegas was also the beneficiary of the new expansion rules, while Seattle had to deal with teams that weren't gonna let themselves get ripped off again.

To an extent, yes. Francis also made some really baffling picks if I recall. Vegas took a lot of gambles on players and hit on pretty much all of them whereas Seattle took almost none. It's not surprising they ended up with a mid roster.

 

[BHD]

As others have said, they're building slow. However, some of their picks (at the expansion draft) were head-scratchers.

They're in their fourth season. I would wait until next summer before passing judgment. However, I do understand the skepticism given Francis' body of work in Carolina.

 

[Mr Positive]

They are building slow but maybe too slow. They've loaded up to the gills on depth and these players are getting up there in age. It's getting harder to imagine what the moment the team "clicks" would look like. Their playoff win vs Colorado could have been the peak of their rebuild, and that rebuild has failed and has to start over.

There's also something to be said for avoiding being in that .500 team, just below the playoff line. Building slow up to the playoff line is nice, but it costs you in draft capital along the way. It's a recipe to remain a deep team without that top tier talent, indefinitely

 

[Cloned]

How does Francis not get criticized more for this?

Team is going backwards since year one and is now firmly entrenched in the grip of mediocrity.

Beniers low key busting considering his draft position.

Drafting Wright.

Hiring Hakstol and Bylsma.

The disaster that is Philip Grubauer.

The ghost of Andre Burakovsky.

 

[MNRube]

Francis has created a roster that Lou Lamoriello would love. 4 3rd lines and a mediocre blueline. Prospects are alright but nobody profiles to change the makeup of the team.

 

[trellaine201]

Definitely trending down! Disappointing to say the least.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

What's wrong with the Wright pick?

 

[Cloned]

What's wrong with the Wright pick?

Early returns say meh.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Early returns say meh.

Who should they have taken at 4 instead?

 

[ViD]

Well, not every new franchise could be Vegas right away

 

[hamzarocks]

Prosoect pool is solid

Seattle likely takes off in 2-3 years while Knights begin a steep decline and rebuild starts in 2-3 years (lengthy one most likely at that)

VGK are the only expansion team to be this good right away for so long. Its not common for a reason

 

[22FUTON9]

Doesn’t Shane Wright have like 30 points in the last 36 games or something? I’d say he’s one of their bright spots

 

[Voight]

Hoenstly hiring Ron Francis was not the right move. As an expansion team you need to hire a veteran executive with decades of experience - George McPhee was an amazing hire by Vegas and the results have shown that. He had experience basically rebuilding the Caps from the ground up and was able to use his savvy to turn Vegas into a powerhouse.

Francis had only been a GM for 4 years before getting the Seattle job, and even then his time in Carolina wasn't all that great.

 

[LeProspector]

Wright has looked great as of late.

I think you should watch the games.

 

[Voight]

Francis just wasn't a good hire to begin with. Not experienced enough IMO.

You see the impact GMGM had on Vegas.

 

[SirKillalot]

George McPhee was an amazing hire by Vegas and the results have shown that. He had experience basically rebuilding the Caps from the ground up and was able to use his savvy to turn Vegas into a powerhouse.

McPhee got a break because GM's went crazy trading him all kinds of players instead of just sacrifying one guy. Yes for some teams that made sense, but for many they overthought things and gave away free assets.

They had learned by the time Seattle came around, and I guess that would be the biggest critique of Francis to not leverage his start a bit more. Not to the Vegas extend cause that wasn't there, but to do some more trades than what they did because surely there was more options out there then what transpired.